seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Judges 3:7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,[a] to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9 But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge(b) and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. 11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
a. Judges 3:8 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
b. Judges 3:10 Or leader
This is from the easy English site.
Othniel was the only judge that was from the north. The other judges were from the south. This story shows the order of events in each judge’s life.
• The people did evil things.
• Their enemies caused pain and trouble to them.
• The people cried to the Lord to help them.
• He sent a judge to make them free. He had given his Spirit to the judge.
• Then there was peace, which continued for many years.
The judges were very skilful because they had the special power of God’s Spirit. Othniel defeated the king that was the people’s enemy. Cushan-Rishathaim is not the king’s real name. It means the ‘twice wicked Cushan.’ This is probably how the writer of the story described him. Perhaps Cushan was the king of Teman in Edom. (Edom belonged to Jacob’s brother Esau. It was south from the country that God had promised to his people.) If so, it would not surprise anyone that Othniel from Judah’s tribe defeated him. This is because Judah’s tribe was in the south. The people in Edom had big holes in the ground. They got brown metal from these.
• The people did evil things.
• Their enemies caused pain and trouble to them.
• The people cried to the Lord to help them.
• He sent a judge to make them free. He had given his Spirit to the judge.
• Then there was peace, which continued for many years.
The judges were very skilful because they had the special power of God’s Spirit. Othniel defeated the king that was the people’s enemy. Cushan-Rishathaim is not the king’s real name. It means the ‘twice wicked Cushan.’ This is probably how the writer of the story described him. Perhaps Cushan was the king of Teman in Edom. (Edom belonged to Jacob’s brother Esau. It was south from the country that God had promised to his people.) If so, it would not surprise anyone that Othniel from Judah’s tribe defeated him. This is because Judah’s tribe was in the south. The people in Edom had big holes in the ground. They got brown metal from these.
According to an article I found, the brown metal they were pulling out of those big holes in the ground was copper.
This is from Bibletrack.org.
Israel deviated from serving God. Instead, they did some Baalim (plural of Baal) worship along with some worship of the goddess Asherah. "Asherah" is a transliteration of the Hebrew word, but is translated "the groves" in the KJV. How trendy...his and her gods. As a result, God allowed them to fall into the bondage of Chushanrishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, for eight years. That's the region in the area modern-day Turkey/Northern Syria - where Isaac and Jacob went to get their wives. When Israel repented and cried out, God sent the first judge, Othniel, to bail them out. You remember Othniel - Caleb's nephew who also became his son-in-law when Caleb awarded him his daughter, Achsah, as his wife (Joshua 15:17,); he won her in a contest when Caleb declared that the one who could conquer Kirjathsepher in Canaan could marry her. Caleb would have been very proud. Othniel gave them 40 years of peace after he rescued them.
Copper....
